Sharon has fallen off the edge of the world.

I haven't forgotten you, the lovely readers of this blog. It's just that I've fallen off the edge of the world opened a café and it's taken over my life. All I seem to do these days is get woken by the sound of my alarm clock, haul my tired body out of bed and into the café where I bake and cook all day long and then come home, collapse from exhaustion and wake up to do it all over again the next day...

But I can see that there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Things are getting easier. I'm beginning to build a good team of people around me and most importantly of all, I'm learning how to delegate. You would not believe how hard it is for a girl like me to learn to trust other people to do things properly, even apparently simple things like making a good cup of coffee. But I am learning and I will get there (that's what I keep telling myself anyhow).
As soon as I do, I'll start posting here regularly again. It won't be long, I promise.

In the meantime, here are some quickly shot snaps of Béile le Chéile (there's still a lot more to be done though so when I next update, you should notice lots of changes)

This is the building from the outside, with my sign pointing to where I am:

I've got an outside patio area which is perfect for when it's sunny (ok, so not all that often in Dingle!)

And here are two shots of the interior:

I've have lots more pictures and stories for you next time - which hopefully won't be too long off. I have to get up at 6am tomorrow morning and I'm bound to be very busy over the bank holiday weekend but I hope to find some time over the next few days to tell you about everything I've been up to. Slán go fóill! ◦

Sharon has fallen off the edge of the world.

Sharon takes a break from the madness to cook some truly Irish food

This was supposed to have been a Saint Patrick's Day post as I had expected to be able to grab a few minutes on that day to sit at my computer. Instead I spent the day sanding and painting chairs in my future café, a place that seems to have swallowed up my entire life to the extent that I have done little else apart from preparing to open it and talking about what needs to be done to prepare to open it for weeks and weeks and weeks and...

(As you read this, picture me slumped at my computer, bags under my eyes and stress lines on my forehead as I ponder the sheer insanity that must have taken me over when I thought there wouldn't be that much work involved in opening a café. How incredibly naive I was but a short time ago.)

So, apologies for this post's lack of timeliness and my absence from here lately. I wish I could say that normal service will resume soon but my life is too crammed full of things to do at the moment to be able to make such rash promises. You will hang in there though, won't you? Normal service has to resume at some stage...

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed your Saint Patrick's Day and celebrated it in a way that was meaningful to you - whether that consisted of donning a silly hat, wearing something green and drinking Guinness or taking the time to do something that reminds you of what is best about Ireland. (I certainly hope you didn't spend it sanding chairs!)

There's one thing that we should all celebrate at this time of year, especially now that spring has sprung and so much fresh produce is coming to market, and that's Irish food. The concept of Irish food is changing and is no longer confined to Irish stew or bacon and cabbage - although both of these are great and I'm sure many people cooked one or other of these dishes on St Patrick's Day.

Modern Irish food consists of the wonderful variety of fruit and vegetables grown here, the fantastic fish and seafood that is to be found on our shorelines and in our seas, the meat from animals that have been raised in our grassy green countryside and the many exceptional food producers that take these pure ingredients and turn them into something truly special.

I'm not claiming that my dish ranks alongside the best of what these food producers do but it's certainly a good one and it's truly Irish. On my way to the café yesterday, I spied wild garlic and some young spring nettles in the hedgerows and decided to create a dish using these native Irish ingredients: nettle gnocchi with a wild garlic sauce.

It's an Irish dish that is well worth eating on Ireland's national day and every other day. And it's green too!

The first thing you have to do is go out and pick some wild garlic. I've seen it by the roadside a lot lately and it especially likes shaded areas. It's worth seeking out as it adds a lovely delicate garlic flavour to this buttery sauce. It looks like this:

Nettles are at their best at this time of year too. But be sure to be careful when picking them. Wear gloves (or use a plastic bag to protect your hands as I did) and only pick the youngest. leaves at the top of the plant. The older ones can be quite tough.

Once you've finished your foraging, you are ready to go home and cook. Here's what you will need to make enough nettle gnocchi for two people:
500g potatoes, Maris Piper, King Edward's or another floury variety
1 egg
100g flour
A pinch of baking powder
125g of nettle leaves (try to remove as much stalk as you can)
Salt and black pepper
Freshly ground nutmeg to taste (I used about half a teaspoon)

Wild garlic butter:
80g butter
A bunch of wild garlic (30 or so leaves), chopped (reserving some of the flowers for garnish)
A sprig of thyme

• Begin by baking your potatoes in a hot oven (220C/420F). This will take up to an hour depending on the size of your potatoes but it's worth doing as you will then have lots of dry, fluffy potatoes to work with.
• While the potatoes are baking, blanch the nettles in boiling water for a minute or two. This removes the sting.
• Drain and set aside.
• Once the potaotes are baked, allow them to cool so that you can handle them and then mash them well.
• Chop your nettles or blitz them in a food processor with the egg. You are aiming for this sort of consistency

• Add the nettles and the egg to the mashed potatoes. Grate in some nutmeg and add some salt and pepper. Tip in the flour and the baking powder and mix until it comes together into a dough-like mix. Be careful not to overwork.
• Dust your work surface with flour and divide the dough in two. Roll each part into a long roll and cut into equal slices, using the back of the knife to shape into gnocchi-like shapes.

• Put a large pot of salted water on to boil and while it's coming to the boil, you can make your butter.
• Melt the butter slowly in a heavy bottomed pan or frying pan and add the chopped garlic. Remove the leaves from the thyme and add those too. Leave to infuse gently as you cook your gnocchi.
• Once your water has boiled, add a batch of gnocchi to the pot and allow them to cook until they float to the top. Let them continue cooking for another two minutes so that the flour cooks out.
• Remove with a slotted spoon and serve with the butter poured over and some wild garlic flowers for garnish on top.

And there you have it: a truly Irish dish of native ingredients that combines the pepperiness of nettles with the delicate flavour of wild garlic

I've also decided to enter this in the most recent Very Good Recipes Challenge which is calling out for Saint Patrick's Day recipes that are green - wish me luck!

◦

Sharon takes a break from the madness to cook some truly Irish food

Missing in action: an explanation

Don't think that I've forgotten about this blog of mine. My life has been swallowed up by plans for this café. But it's only a temporary glitch. I promise you all a post by the end of the week (probably on Friday) so check back then to find out what I've been up to. I'll give you a tasty recipe too to make up for my absence! ◦

Missing in action: an explanation

Lamenting the loss of lie-ins

Oh, lie-ins, how I miss you. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed one of you, the last time I dawdled in bed with nothing to do except flick through magazines, doze and wonder what to have for breakfast.

I've been working so hard trying to get this café up and running while struggling to keep up with my writing and teaching work at the same time. Last Wednesday saw me teaching a class in Tralee, taking an interview in my car and then writing a 1200 word article in a car park all the while being interrupted by calls from fire safety officers and suppliers. This is just how erratic my life has got. So erratic that I'm going to bed exhausted every night and rolling out of bed early the next morning only to do it all over again. 

You can see why I miss lie-ins... 

I've made progress though. The painting is finished bar a few touch-ups. The kitchen is near ready. I've sorted out lots (but not all) of my suppliers. I've even hired some staff. And I also have a name. But it seems to be contentious...

I wasn't anticipating this but I've had conflicting reactions to the name and I wonder what you are going to think of it. I've decided to call it (drum roll, please):

Béile le Chéile (I'm useless at figuring out how to write things phonetically but it's pronounced something like bay-le le chay-le and it loosely translates as 'a shared meal'.)

Anyhow, I thought it sounded lovely as it rhymes and I liked the communal feel of what it meant. And I wanted something that was in the Irish language as it's something that I feel is at the heart of who we are in this part of Ireland yet it's also something that is slowly fading away.

So... here are the reactions I’ve had to it. Irish-speaking people instantly like it. It makes them smile.
Irish people who don’t speak English don’t like it and think that the fact it’s an Irish name will keep people away from the café. Be honest with me here: do you really think this will happen?
Foreigners who are not English speaking like it once they are told what it means and think it will have no bearing on whether or not they would go to a café.
Foreigners who live in Dingle and are not Irish speaking think it might affect business.
My boyfriend, who is English and speaks hardly any Irish, doesn’t know what to think!

I’m confused. It took me ages to come up with the name (and I have to give credit to my sister's boyfriend Gearóid for the final choice). I wanted it to be in Irish as I think the fact that the language is in decline has a lot to do with people like me abandoning it in favour of English when presented with situations such as this. I wasn’t expecting my choice of name to present me with such ethical problems. What do you think?

As you can see, I’ve had problems on my plate which is why I haven’t posted here for a while. I’d have much preferred to have something like this on my plate – a breakfast dish that is perfect for people who have just enjoyed a lie-in, a dish that is full of flavour, that is worth lingering over and is a great way to start a lazy weekend.

It comes from Yotam Ottolenghi's book 'Plenty' and it's eggy, herby and spicy with a hint of sweetness. It's called Shakshuka and it's one of my favourite ways to celebrate having had a lie-in.

And although it takes over a half an hour to make, you can make the pepper mix in advance and then all you need to do is cook the eggs in it for ten minutes in the morning. I've done this before and it's so worth it.

This makes a very satisfying brunch for two
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
90ml vegetable oil or light olive oil
1 large onion, sliced
1 red and 1 yellow pepper, halved, quartered and then cut into 2cm strips
2 teaspoons muscuvado sugar
1 bay leaf
3 thyme sprigs, leaves picked and chopped
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped coriander, plus extra to garnish
3 ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Up to 125ml water
4 free-range eggs
Salt and black pepper

• Place a large frying pan over a high heat and dry roast the cumin seeds for two minutes.
• Add the oil and the onions and sauté for five minutes.
• Add the peppers, sugar and herbs and continue cooking on a high heat for five to ten minutes to get a nice colour.
• Add the tomatoes, saffron, cayenne and some salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 15 minutes.
• During the cooking, keep adding water so that the mix has the consistency of pasta sauce.
• Taste and adjust the seasoning. You want something with a strong flavour.  (This is the part of the dish that you can make up in advance - it keeps well in the fridge).
• Remove the bay leaf and divide the mix into two separate small frying pans, each large enough to take an individual portion. 
• Place them on a medium heat to warm up.
• Then make two gaps in the mix and break an egg into each gap.
• Sprinkle with salt and cover the pans with lids.
• Cook on a very gentle heat for 10 to 12 minutes or until the eggs are just set.
• Sprinkle with coriander and serve with some crusty bread.

Breakfasts like this are what make me miss lie-ins even more. Oh well, off I go to the café to finish the painting and start decorating the bathrooms. If I get enough done today, maybe I can have a lie-in followed by some shakshuka for breakfast tomorrow. Now there's a thought to inspire a girl to work harder.

◦

Lamenting the loss of lie-ins

Proof once again that chocolate will always make things better

Last week was a tough week. Things went wrong. Things fell through. And at one stage, a chimney almost fell off - but I don't even want to go there and, believe me, neither do you!

Some of you may think I'm mad but I've been trying to coordinate setting up a café with my other full-time work. This means that the past few weeks have consisted of me constantly switching from journalist mode to teacher mode to hassled-person-trying-to-set-up-a-café mode. Mostly, I've been doing fine, though there have been times when I've forgotten just who I'm supposed to be...

That was until last Thursday. I'd been in Tralee on Wednesday, where I'd found tablecloths I liked. This was a huge step forward as I'd spent ages searching in Dublin, Limerick and Dingle. But when I called the shop early on Thursday morning to finalise the order, they hit me with a bombshell. They didn't have enough fabric and the pattern had been discontinued so they couldn't order in any more. Back to the drawing board went a VERY disheartened Sharon.

Barely a second after that phone call, there was the chimney incident (the less said about that, the better) and another phone call from my landlord with more bad news.

Feeling really discouraged by now, I then had to go and teach a computer literacy class to a group of pensioners. The computers were playing up and it took at least 40 minutes to get started, by which time my normally lovely pensioners were very crotchety.

Things got even worse after that but I can feel my blood pressure rising as I write so perhaps it's just best for me to say that by Friday, I had made little or no progress with the café and expected little from the weekend.

Needing some serious cheering up, I found myself browsing through Short and Sweet by Dan Lepard, one of the cookbooks I got this Christmas and a treasure trove of baking treats. I found a recipe for chocolate custard muffins and by their very name alone, I knew they were what I needed.

Note to readers: before you get too excited, the name refers to the cooking method. There is no chocolate custard inside. But this doesn't make them any less delicious. These muffins are moist, chocolately and more-ish. One will most definitely not be enough.
Note to self: must make chocolate muffins with chocolate custard inside.

You'll find Dan's recipe for the muffins on the Guardian website here. He's a regular contributor of theirs and I warn you that if you browse his recipes, you'll definitely end up wanting his book! 
While the muffins were baking in the oven and cooling afterwards, I made Dan's treacle chocolate fudge icing to go on top. 

Halve the measurements he uses and you'll have enough to swirl on top of 12 muffins as well as some left over to use as chocolate spread afterwards. It keeps very well in the fridge.

I felt so much better after baking and eating these that my weekend seemed to flow from there. My boyfriend, two of my sisters and one of their boyfriends came to help me get started with painting on Saturday. One of them even had lots of tablecloth samples for me and I found one that was better than my original choice. (Hooray!)

We made much more progress than I ever thought we would and I am so thankful to them all for helping me and lifting me out of what was becoming a dark and pessimistic mood.

I feel I should thank these muffins too. The very act of baking them and the pleasure of eating them made me remember just what I'm trying to do with this café. There will be obstacles to overcome along the way but if delicious food like this is the result, I feel that it will be worth it.

My helpers enjoyed eating the muffins too!

I'll definitely be making these again. They may even feature on the menu of my café. If they made me feel better and made a success of a weekend that I thought would be a total failure, they must be good.



◦

Proof once again that chocolate will always make things better

And the nominees are...

The lovely Margaret of A Year in Redwood nominated me for a Liebster Award last Sunday and I'd like to thank her so much for it. A Liebster Award is a way of recognising the work of other bloggers and it's great that people like Margaret appreciate what I am doing here - thanks so much, Margaret!

Gushing thanks aside, now it's my turn to nominate five bloggers whose blogs I enjoy reading. There are five rules I must follow in doing this:

1. I have to thank the person who gave me the award. Thanks again, Margaret!
2. I must link back to that person's blog, A Year in Redwood
3. I have to copy and paste the Liebster Award to my profile:

4. The blogs I pick must have fewer than 200 followers (I'm not entirely sure how many followers Fanny of like a strawberry milk has. She may have many more than 200 as her blog is so lovely.)
5. I must let these bloggers know I have chosen them by leaving a comment on their blog.

So, here are my nominees (I'm imaginging myself wearing an evening dress and opening a golden envelope as I write this. Would that I were !):

1. like a strawberry milk I just love this French girl's dreamy evocation of a life in London that involves bicycles, Polaroids, pastries and the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of good food.

2. Kitchen Life Skills Sally McKenna is well known in Ireland as one half of the duo that compiles the influential Bridgestone Guides. But she's also the author of this great blog that teaches you something new every time you visit. I'm going to follow her instructions to make homemade Japanese dashi with seaweed foraged from the seashore very soon.

3. Gunternation Sharon and her husband Bill chronicle their life in Dublin, telling us about the recipes they enjoy cooking, the restaurants they visit and the adventures they have as an American couple with a love for and curiosity about Ireland.

4. Warm & Snug & Fat Here, Amee writes about growing and cooking her own food and her recipes are always irresistibly good. Recent ones include hazelnut and buttermilk banana loaf and chorizo and scrambled eggs tacos. (I told you they were good!)

5. Felting My Way Across Kerry Sharon is a fellow blogger who lives in Dingle and she writes about how she moved from a life in urban America to a small-town life in Ireland where she creates fabrics and fashions that are colourful and unique.

These are just some of the blogs I like reading and I'm thankful that the Liebster Award gave me an opportunity to recognise them. There are so many great blogs out there just waiting to be discovered. Start exploring!





◦

And the nominees are...

A sharp rap on the knuckles and a recipe for tonight's supper

You can't see me but I'm holding out my hand so that you can give me that rap on the knuckles I said you could if I hadn't posted something by Friday. Last week was so crammed full of things to do that I had very little time to spend in the kitchen or at the computer. This is why this blog post is three days late and why I broke my promise.

You might go easy on me if you knew what I'd been up to though. I spent two days in Dublin tracking down bargains for the café. I've now got cutlery, glasses, cups and saucers, plates, bowls and some kitchen equipment. It sounds like a lot but I still need tablecloths (which are quickly turning into the bane of my life), sugar bowls, salt and pepper shakers, milk jugs and much more.

As well as shopping, I've sanded and varnished the floor of the café (or should I say my boyfriend did this - this past week, he has been more helpful than I could ever have imagined anyone to be and I'm so thankful). I placed an ad in the local paper for staff and have so far interviewed two people and set up interviews with two others (it's so strange to be the one asking the questions at interviews!).

This week, I'm buying tablecloths, enlisting family and friends to help paint the interior (if you're reading this and you are a member of my family or a friend who lives in Dingle, consider yourself forewarned!), finishing kitting out the kitchen, dealing with suppliers and having meetings with an accountant and a solicitor. Once all that is done, things should be almost ready to rock.

In the meantime, I'm not always going to have a huge amount of time or energy to cook at the end of the day. That means I'll be preparing lots of dishes like this - dishes that are simple to prepare and cook, that are flexible enough to work with whatever you happen to have in your fridge and are always full of flavour.

But when I think of it, these are the kinds of dishes that I tend to cook a lot during the week anyway. This Thai-inspired dish is one of my favourites and as it's such a versatile recipe, it might just become one of yours too.

This recipe started life as an Avoca Café recipe for green bean and coconut soup but I've adapted it to turn it into a much more filling supper dish.

It's a flexible recipe too. I've used prawns here but in the past I've used monkfish, chicken pieces that I've pre-fried in some oil and ground coriander and pieces of hake that I pre-fried in oil with chopped green chilli.

I serve this dish with basmati rice and if I'm very hungry and in need of carbohydrates (as I have been these busy days), I also serve one pitta bread per person. I think it would also be good with some slurpy noodles.

Feel free to experiment. This is a very forgiving recipe.

Ingredients:
(Serves two hungry people with plenty left over for lunch the next day)

15g/half an oz of butter
4 spring onions, cut in half lengthways and then into 5cm strips (include the green bits)
2 carrots, peeled and cut into matchsticks
2 teaspoons finely chopped lemongrass (be sure to remove the dry outer layers first)
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 teaspoons ground coriander
100g green beans, topped, tailed and chopped so that they are approximately as long as the carrots
1x400ml/14 fl oz can of coconut milk
100ml vegetable stock
110g bean sprouts
14 prawns, peeled and cleaned
1 tablespoon nam pla (if you don't have this fish sauce, season with salt)
2 tablespoons of chopped fresh coriander

150g basmati rice
2 pieces of pitta bread, olive oil and sumac (if using)

• Start by preparing your vegetables, lemongrass, garlic and ginger. You want them to look something like this:

• Put your rice on to cook.
• Brush your pitta breads with olive oil and sprinkle with sumac (if you're using) and place in the toaster. Don't turn it on yet.
• Melt the butter in a wok and add the spring onions, carrots, lemongrass, garlic and ginger. Stir over a medium heat for one minute.
• Add the green beans, turmeric and coriander and stir until the vegetables are coated in the spices.
• Add the coconut milk and the stock.
• Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
• Add the prawns and cook for 3 minutes or until they have turned pink.
• Stir in the beansprouts and fresh coriander and season with nam pla (or salt).
• Turn off the heat, toast your pitta breads and serve this vibrant yellow prawn sauce over the rice and with the pitta bread.

It's a dish that can't fail to make you happy.

◦

A sharp rap on the knuckles and a recipe for tonight's supper